Alberta
Calgary anti-racism group condems Atlanta murders
March 17, 2021 Calgary, AB
Act2endracism released the following statement:
Act2endracism condemns the murders that stole the lives of eight people in Atlanta, six of the victims were Asian women. We offer our sympathy and thoughts to the victims’ families and loved ones who mourn such unspeakable loss. We watch with incredible sadness as investigators try to piece together the motivation behind the mass shootings in Atlanta. We stand with the Japanese American Citizens League statement,
“Whether these murders were intended to target the victims because of their work, gender, or their Asian ethnicity, they come at a time when our community is already feeling exposed and vulnerable. The impacts of discrimination and outright racism have been brought to the forefront by COVID-19. We continue to be worn down and on guard.”
Act2endracism offers support to Asian Canadians on how to deal with racism. The national network comprised of more than 50 communities was created to educate families experiencing racism and discrimination at a heightened rate during the pandemic. Former Alberta MLA and Act2endracism founder, Teresa Woo-Paw, offered her condolences to the families.
“This tragic loss of life will compound pain and apprehension in our community. Violent acts are always beyond comprehension. We hope to find out the motivation behind the crimes to see how it can prevent tragedy from happening again.”
In Vancouver, hate crimes against Asians have escalated by an alarming rate of more than 700%. And in Montreal, hate crimes are significantly on the rise. The etwork created an online reporting tool to capture stories. Most targets are women and most incidents, such as verbal harassment, occur in public spaces like grocery stores. More than half request mental health supports. If you see racism or are a target, we urge you to report it to the authorities or by going online to our website act2endracism.ca.
Alberta
Alberta government should eliminate corporate welfare to generate benefits for Albertans
From the Fraser Institute
By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill
Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.
And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.
According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.
Why should Albertans care?
First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.
For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.
Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.
Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.
In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.
Authors:
Alberta
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